€816m Rome’s budget deficit

Rome came within days of bankruptcy last month, after parliament threw out a bill that would have injected fresh funding to reduce its €816m (£671m) budget deficit.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi approved a last-minute emergency decree that bailed out the beleaguered city. It saw the transfer of €570m (£468m) to the city council, enabling it to pay municipal workers and ensure services such as rubbish collection and public transport. Rome has been bailed out by the central Italian government every year since 2008. Mayor Ignzio Marino said: “Rome has wasted money for decades. I don’t want to spend another euro that is not budgeted.”